J.J. Johnson Quartet – A Touch Of Satin (1960)

Considered by many to be the finest jazz trombonist of all time, J.J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001) somehow transferred the innovations of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie to his more awkward instrument, playing with such speed and deceptive ease that at one time some listeners assumed he was playing valve (rather than slide) trombone. Johnson toured with the territory bands of Clarence Love and Snookum Russell during 1941-1942, and then spent 1942-1945 with Benny Carter’s big band. He made his recording debut with Carter (taking a solo on “Love for Sale” in 1943), and played at the first JATP concert (1944). Johnson also had plenty of solo space during his stay with Count Basie’s Orchestra (1945-1946).

During 1946-1950, he played with all of the top bop musicians, including Charlie Parker (with whom he recorded in 1947), the Dizzy Gillespie big band, Illinois Jacquet (1947-1949), and the Miles Davis Birth of the Cool Nonet. His own recordings from the era included such sidemen as Bud Powell and a young Sonny Rollins. Johnson, who also recorded with the Metronome All-Stars, played with Oscar Pettiford (1951) and Miles Davis (1952), but then was outside of music, working as a blueprint inspector for two years (1952-1954). His fortunes changed when, in August 1954, he formed a two-trombone quintet with Kai Winding that became known as Jay and Kai and was quite popular during its two years.

After Johnson and Winding went their separate ways (they would later have a few reunions), Johnson led a quintet that often included Bobby Jaspar. He began to compose ambitious works, starting with 1956’s “Poem for Brass,” and including “El Camino Real” and a feature for Dizzy Gillespie, “Perceptions”; his “Lament” became a standard. Johnson worked with Miles Davis during part of 1961-1962, led some more small groups of his own, and by the late ’60s was kept busy writing television and film scores. J.J. Johnson was so famous in the jazz world that he kept on winning Downbeat polls in the 1970s, even though he was not playing at all. However, starting with a Japanese tour in 1977, Johnson gradually returned to a busy performance schedule, leading a quintet in the 1980s that often featured Ralph Moore. In the mid-’90s, he remained at the top of his field, but by the late ’90s and early into the 2000s, the legendary musician fell ill with prostate cancer, and sadly took his own life on February 4, 2001.

A Touch of Satin is an album by J. J. Johnson’s Quartet which was released on the Columbia label. (by Scott Yanow)

Though hardly the greatest recording by J.J. Johnson, it couldn’t go wrong. Simply and curtly stated by Johnson in the liner notes of A Touch Of Satin: “Last year while touring in Europe I had the pleasure of appearing as soloist with accompaniment by Julian “Cannonball” Adderley’s rhythm section. To say the least, I enjoyed the experience the most. So much so that with Cannonball’s approval, we recorded this LP immediately upon returning from Europe.”

A Touch Of Satin isn’t a satin affair at all, nor velvet and neither flannel, but named so because Duke Ellington’s Satin Doll is part of the repertoire. It’s more like a sturdy cotton shirt and a thick wool sweater. He’s certainly reveling in the company and though Johnson maintains his trademark clean and bright tone and would never sound as gritty and greasy as Ellington trombonists or Al Grey, his sound is unusually big and broad and his style features plenty ‘blooziness’, perhaps that the reason why Johnson named one of the tunes on this album Bloozineff.

He adds fresh melodic ideas to Monk’s Jackie-ing, riding the waves of Feldman’s hip and deceptively loose-jointed bundle of chords. Feldman lets notes ring like Christmas bells. Satin Doll is a great group effort, a jolly, big-sounding festivity and Johnson’s slyly timed accents and fabulously structured solo are the icing on the cake. Johnson’s Flat Black, the most “Adderley Quintet-ish” cut, finds him on fire and supple and fast like a leopard on the savannah. Bop and hard bop alternates with a couple of nice ballads, featuring Feldman on celeste, and the party goers are waved goodbye with a sassy and hard-swinging version of jazz anthem When The Saints Go Marching In. Party’s over but we don’t mind the headache, it’s been serious fun. (http://flophousemagazine.com)

Personnel:
Victor Feldman (piano, vibraphone, celeste)
Louis Hayes (drums)
Sam Jones (bass)
J. J. Johnson (trombone)

Tracklist:
01. Satin Doll (Ellington) 4.32
02. Flat Black (Johnson) 4.21
03. Gigi (Loewe/Lerner) 3.23
04. Bloozineff (Johnson) 3.43
05. Jackie-ing (Monk) 4.22
06. Goodbye (Jenkins) 2.12
07. Full Moon And Empty Arms (Kaye/Mossman) 4.31
08. Sophisticated Lady (Ellington/Mills/Parish) 2.36
ß9. When The Saints Go Marching In (Traditional) 6.13

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Andre Previn and J.J. Johnson – Play Kurt Weill (1962)

André George Previn KBE (born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor.

His career was three-pronged. Starting by arranging and composing Hollywood film scores for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Previn was involved in the music for over 50 films over his entire career. He won four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings (and one more for his Lifetime Achievement). He was also the music director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Oslo Philharmonic, as well as the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In jazz, Previn was a pianist-interpreter and arranger of songs from the Great American Songbook, was piano-accompanist to singers of jazz standards, and was a trio pianist.

James Louis Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001) was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.

Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop.

André Previn and J. J. Johnson (subtitled Play Kurt Weill’s Mack the Knife & Bilbao-Song and Other Music from The Threepenny Opera, Happy End, Mahagonny) is an album by pianist André Previn and trombonist J. J. Johnson performing Kurt Weill’s compositions which was released on the Columbia label. (by wikipedia)

Previn intersected most notably with Weill on a 1961 LP, André Previn and J.J. Johnson Play Kurt Weill’s Mack the Knife and Barbara-Song and Other Music from Threepenny Opera, Happy End and Mahagonny (the combo also included Red Mitchell on bass and drummer Frank Capp). Actually the disc held six more tracks: “Bilbao-Song,” the Overture to The Threepenny Opera, “Seeräuberjenny,” “Surabaya-Johnny,” “Wie man sich bettet,” and “Lied von der Unzulänglichkleit menschlichen Strebens.” Some of Weill’s songs had become jazz standards by then, but an entire album devoted to Weill’s music was unusual to say the least. (It has been reissued on CD as Lonehill Jazz LHJ10376.) Around the same time, Previn recorded “Lost in the Stars” as piano soloist with orchestra; years later he accompanied Kiri Te Kanawa on a 1991 disc that included “It Never Was You.”

Undoubtedly Previn’s advocacy gave Weill a push among jazz musicians, particularly in reaching past “Mack the Knife” and exploring other music from Weill’s Berlin years. Previn was in fact born in Berlin in 1929, and it is tempting to imagine that Weill’s music was some of the first he heard as a young child in a city intoxicated with the Threepenny Opera. (New York Times, Feb. 28, 2019)

Personnel:
Frank Capp (drums)
J. J. Johnson (trombone)
Red Mitchell (bass)
André Previn (piano)

Alternate front + backcover:

Tracklist:
01. Bilbao Song (from Happy End) 4.24
02. Barbara Song (from The Threepenny Opera) 6.27
03. Overture (from The Threepenny Opera) 5.21
04. Seeräuberjenny” – 4:20 (from The Threepenny Opera)
05. Mack The Knife (Moritat) 5.19
06. Surabaya Johnny (from Happy End) 4.27
07. Wie man sich bettet (“Meine Herren, meine Mutter prägte” from Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) 6.28
08. Unzulänglichkeit (from The Threepenny Opera) 5.14

All compositions by Kurt Weill

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